Empower Blog Professional Advice

Return on Investment

What defines Return on Investment and how it differs for Property and other Financial Assets? And how do you align your expectation and the reality of the returns? In previous articles we've been discussing the “outputs” that we are seeking from an Investment Strategy.  Most importantly, we will be looking for ongoing capital growth o...

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Who do you turn to for those big financial decisions in life?

The landscape is changing in the financial services space. Financial planners are moving away, due to government intervention, from commission based selling and accountants are now held more accountable for taxation returns they help produce and submit to the Australia Taxation Office and Mortgage Brokers have been licensed for a reasonable period ...

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The Impact of Knowledge

Previously, we've discussed the “inputs” that will be required for an Investment Strategy starting off by talking about the different ways that money and time will be required to implement an investment strategy and their impacts on the outcome of that strategy. Another key input that will be required of any prospective investor is knowledge...

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Recognising an ‘Investment Grade’ Property

We are often asked by people "What are the good suburbs to buy in?"  If we could pick a better question to ask a Buyers Agent though, we would ask them "What makes a property an investment grade property?"  The answer is not all that detailed, however SO many people get it wrong.  Like one of team member says, "it's simple but it's not easy!" T...

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Finance Talk: Seek Help For Those Big Life Decisions

We all know that buying your first home is at that moment in time most likely your most confronting finance and one of a big life decisions as well, but from that moment on throughout your life you are going to be faced with making big decisions about your finances, your well being, your future etc, etc. So it’s only logical that you seek advice...

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Can You Compete and Beat the Best?

Did you stay up and watch that Epic men’s final of the Australian Open between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal?  WOW, what a match!  I confess I only watch it up until around midnight when the rain delay hit, as yes I needed to go to work in the morning. In watching that match it staggered me just how two men can hit the ball so hard and so ...

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A Good Conveyancer Pays Dividends

We all acknowledge that buying property is a big financial commitment.  And an important professional involved in the purchase process is a Conveyancer. Too often buyers make the mistake of bringing the Conveyancer in after they have purchased the property - BIG MISTAKE. Good conveyancers can add a great amount of advice and values within th...

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Someone Took a Calculated Risk

Question: How many generations can you trace your family back to? 2, 3 or 4 maybe..... Now looking at your family’s wealth base how many of you can easily see the millions of dollars within the family estates in property, cash, shares etc? What....... your family doesn’t have all those tens of millions in the family estate? (Don’t worry I�...

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The Value of Enlisting Property Specialist Help

Like other property specialists, much of our work, aside from researching and finding good property, is negotiating and bidding for my clients. We enjoy the task of establishing an estimate of the value, the future prospects based on historical performance and the gross rental yield, but most of all we like the agent-advocate negotiations. So much ...

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Complicating Simple

Throughout the business world over the years there has been a lot of discussion about concepts and/or theories around best business practice, thought leadership theories etc, etc.  Great sayings like “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” to the complete opposite of “if it isn’t broke, break it”........ My observations from my time in ...

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Advisor vs. Salesperson

I’m in the process of finalising the plans for a major renovation of our home, and there are a lot of people involved in the process and a lot of decisions we need to make – BIG Decisions that carry a lot of costs. Through this process it has once again been highlighted to me the wish I have always had regarding making BIG financial decision...

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How can Property Zoning affect a Property?

“Oh. What does that mean?” is the response buyers often have when we make mention of a little piece of information that can have significant negative flow-on effects for a property purchase. So what sorts of pieces of information could adversely affect a property purchase? And even if the buyer never plans to sell, how could their purchase e...

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My Greatest Fear, Disappointment & Possible Regret

In taking a moment to reflect on what Jane (my wife) and I have been able to achieve financially over our 16 years of investing in residential property and amassing a multi-million dollar property portfolio before the age of 40, it once again highlights to me a couple of valuable lessons that have resulted in our household becoming financially inde...

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